Cammalleri, Glencross help Flames edge Canucks

Cammalleri recorded a hat trick before Glencross snapped a tie
with 6:31 left in the third period as the Flames held on for a
4-3 victory over the Canucks on Thursday.

Captain Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow each had two assists
and Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for the Flames, who defeated
the Canucks for the first time in three meetings.

"It was nice," Kiprusoff said. "We've been playing pretty
strong lately and I think we're pretty confident. Again, we
played pretty tight defense and when we score four goals in a
road game, you usually get two points."

Darcy Hordichuk and Mason Raymond each scored, while Daniel
Sedin also tallied, but the Canucks saw their four-game win
streak end as they yielded more than two goals for the second
time in 11 contests.

The teams conclude a home-and-home series in Calgary on
Saturday.

"This is big. I'm not going to hide it," Cammalleri said. "We
knew how well they were playing. We looked at the standings and
we knew how crucial these points could be. We talked about this
series and it's important to get the first one, otherwise it's
an uphill battle. Now it gives us a chance to have a really
special series on Saturday."

Cammalleri stole the show, but Glencross closed the curtain on
the Canucks after stealing the puck at the blue line and lifting
a backhander over Curtis Sanford to secure the victory.

"It was during the last five minutes of the game and I didn't
want to be too aggressive," Glencross said. "I was fortunate
enough to jump on the loose puck. We kind of had a bitter
thought in our mind after our shift before that we gave up a
goal and we wanted to get that goal back for us. It's nice to
get that opportunity."

Glencross has tallied in three straight games. He had no points
in two meetings with Vancouver this season, which translated
into a 6-0 loss on October 9 and a 5-4 overtime defeat two days
later.

"It's huge for us," Glencross said. "Definitely that first game
of the season was in our mind. We had to come back out hard
tonight and it was good to get rewarded after working hard all
last week and changing a few things up and it worked out again
for us tonight."

Cammalleri gave Calgary a 3-2 lead 78 seconds into the third,
but Raymond evened the game 10 minutes later by converting
passes from Kyle Wellwood and Taylor Pyatt while sitting on the
doorstep.

"It's always a competitive game when the Flames and the Canucks
get together," Flames coach Mike Keenan said. "It was a solid
win for us. We had to come from behind twice in their building
to get the victory. It took a lot of effort and some
consistency on our part."

Hordichuk opened the scoring 5:33 into the first and after
Cammalleri netted his first goal of the game with the man
advantage nearly three minutes later, Daniel Sedin tapped a
loose puck in the crease over Kiprusoff midway through the
session.

Henrik Sedin notched his 400th career point with an assist on
his brother's goal.

"It would be nice if we won the game for sure," Henrik Sedin
said. "It's nothing you really think about out there."

Cammalleri scored the lone goal in the second, firing a snap
shot from the right faceoff circle with 2:59 remaining.

Starting his fourth straight game in the wake of All-Star
netminder Roberto Luongo's injury, Sanford made 29 saves for the
Canucks.

Luongo, who is 11-5-2 with a 2.17 goals-against average, is not
expected to return until next week at the earliest.

"I think we made some mistakes that they were able to pounce on
and make us pay for," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said.
"Whether it be defensive zone turnovers or neutral zone
turnovers, they were able to jump on those and make us pay.
They played better than we did tonight. They were stronger on
the puck. It was a hard-fought game, but they were the better
on the game."